Scrum of the Earth /

•    The Birthplace of the 7s game was the Melrose Cup in the Scottish Borders in 1883 when the club were trying to raise some much needed funds.
•    The IRB Sevens Schedule runs from 30th November in Dubai to 1st June in Scotland.
•    The first IRB Sevens crown in Dubai was won by New Zealand in 1999/2000 with their side containing Christian Cullen, Mils Muliaina Jonah Lomu and Eric Rush.
•    New Zealand have won six out of the seven World Series but Fiji broke their stranglehold on the trophy in 2005/6.
•    The Hong Kong 7s originated in 1976 and is the widely regarded as the showpiece event of the calendar. Fiji have won the event a record 11 times.

•    Santiago Gomez Cora of Argentina is the all-time top try scorer with 170 tries.
•    England flyer, Ben Gollings is the all-time IRB World Sevens Series leading points scorer with a remarkable 1613 points. He became the first player to reach the 1500 mark at the end of the 2005/6 season and represents some kind of a rugby journeyman having played for a whole host of clubs including Bath, Gloucester and Harlequins.

•    Either 16 or 24 teams enter the series depending on the tournament with the Cup champions collecting 20 points (16-team) or 30 points (24-team) for winning the trophy.
•    After the group stages, the teams go into the Cup, Plate or Bowl depending on their pool position.
•    Teams are allowed up to 12 players and 2 management staff.
•    Players must retain the same number shirt throughout the tournament and series.
•    The rule are: 7 players per team, playing 7 minute halves, conversions must be drop kicked and the scoring team kicks off to restart play.
•    Yellow cards result in 2-minute suspensions.

•    Fiji are reigning Rugby World Cup Sevens holders haiving won the trophy in 2004/5 including Waisale Serevi, Marika Vinibaka and the new kid on the block William Ryder.
•    Other notable 7s tournaments are Middlesex Sevens, Rosslyn Park Sevens and The Commonwealth Games
•    As yet not an Olympic Sevens but the IRB are pushing hard…